Shaquara

I love my fishes. I have 4 Burmese Border loaches and I didn't think I would feel quite this good about owning fish. I just got them on Sunday and they were voraciously taking care of my snail problem. I meant to get zebra danios first, but you could see at least fifty snails on the tank sides at any given moment and after a little research, I knew something had to be done. My little fishes have only been in there one night and now you can only see, tops, five snails at a time. I've been cleaning out the big snails because the fish tried to eat them. As the fish were zooming around in a frenzy and between bites redecorating, they were seriously trying to suck up the larger snails, but they just don't fit in their mouths yet. They've calmed down now and won't come out except for the one I'm already calling The Crazy One. He (I'm just assuming it's a male) was the most stressed trying to get him into the bag at the lfs. When I was acclimating them, everytime the other fish would just start to relax (or maybe it was just their fear reaction of settling on the bottom to blend in witht the substrate), he was coming over and poking them back into motion to help him get out of there then they would go back to poking at the sides of the bag in a panic. Then I stopped watching and that seemed to calm them a little. Then when they finally got put into the tank, he was climbing at the walls trying to get out of the tank and every time one of the other fish came out of the hidy hole for more snails, he got them, somehow (don't ask me how), distracted from feeding (can you believe it) to helping him try to escape through the glass. He's the only one who'll come out of the hidy hole now. I think all of the other fish are nursing tummy aches from eating too many snails and are probably more skiddish than him. We thought the lfs only had two Burmese Border loaches then they lifted the decorations and a couple fell out of them, but after a minute of the decorations being out in the air about five more dropped (all at the same time too!) and a couple went on the floor. Of course, there was the one that was thrashing a ton in the net, quite a bit more noticably than the others, and was the most active and still thrashing in the temporary tiny container while waiting to be put in the bag; this would be The Crazy One. So with the other ones enjoying the plasitc plant to being out in the open, I don't know that I'll see much of them until they are very good and ready.

I've been trying all day to work in talking about my fish to my workmates, but I just don't think they would appreciate it as much as you guys would.

haddaj04

Nice, do you have any pictures?

Lucy

Yeah, a lot of people just don't get it.

And yes please we love pics, so post some soon.

Shaquara

No, sorry, no pics. I took some with my phone, but I don't have a way to upload them. I might eventually get a digital camera. It's going to be a long time before that, though, because there's still a lot of improvements I need to make on the tank.

I'm kind of worried, now, though. I was doing some reading and someone mentioned that their tap water already had nitrates. I realized I hadn't tested the water coming out of my tap. When you're thinking of cute little fishes swimming around, who's going to think of the scientific process? So I thought my tank was cycled and it's not. Now I know, though. I'm testing the water daily and doing a daily 25% water change. I'm thinking I should do more... The nitrites are testing at .25. I'm just glad it's down from yesterday.

I saw three of my fishes swimming around this morning and that made me feel better. At least, three are still alive! For now...

Unfortunately, as a newbie there's a lot of stuff only experience can teach you.

Lucy

Glad to hear your nitrites are coming down and your babies are swimming around.

My daughter can't upload pics from her phone either, but she can e-mail them to herself, maybe you can try that.

Shaquara

I saw all four of my fishies swimming around this morning. Just when I thought I should tip the hidy hole upside down and hope nothing floats out. I was so relieved.

Already a couple more have names. When I walked in this morning, Crazy was doing his morning exercise. I can't tell if it's exercise or if he's still trying to escape through the glass. This other fish was chasing him around and when he got bored of chasing Crazy then he went and chased around the other fish who was scrounging for food. So I have been calling him Chaser. The one scrounging for food is always hanging around this one decoration and searching for food. For now I'm calling him Scrounger, but if something else pops in my head that sticks better, then his name will change. When Chaser got tired of following Scrounger around, he went and chased the last fish out if his hiding spot. I was sooo happy to see him. This last fish fish is especially cautious. At one point he came out on his own and then just crouched close to the sand to hide (I'm glad I got the black sand). Then he would move a little bit and then hide some more. He was moving real slow and cautious like that for only a couple of minutes, then he went back into the hidy hole. I wonder how Super Spy would suit him... When I came home and shook some food in, I think it was Scrounger that came out and stared at me, right next to the glass, for thirty seconds. Then he swam back into the hole. I couldn't tell if it was because I had just dropped food in there and he was expecting it right then and got impatient waiting for it to sink or if he was just saying hello. Maybe it was a little bit of both, "Welcome home. Where's my food? You should know we're out of snails and we're not big on the flake food you have been trying to feed us. See ya." I'm just glad they're starting to get more comfortable (or is it hungry) and that all of them are still alive.

I had forgotten about that, but now that you mention it, at one point I did see an option to upload the photos from my phone, but I'm thinking it would charge me and I don't know how much. I should try one pic and see. I only have pics right now of when I first set up the tank, so nothing showing the fishies yet. I don't think I could get close enough yet to get decent pictures, but they seem to be getting more and more comfortable in their new home, so maybe soon.

Shaquara

Can't upload the pics. I forgot that when we bought the phones we told them to turn off the internet feature. So I can't upload any pics.

I didn't realize how active my loaches could be! Chaser and Scrounger apparently don't get along either.

Between yesterday and today I ended up with 4 zebra danios. I bought two yesterday and due to a mistake on my part, lost one right off. So I had one that ended up being all alone for the night. He lost all his color and when I put him in my tank I couldn't find him because he blended in with the rocks and he wasn't moving. Today I went out and bought three more. They explored the tank and then went to pester the lonely little fish. I was so glad to see him get all his color back.

Now to get food the fish will actually eat. The danios were pecking at things, so I put in a tiny amount of the flakes I got. They would put it in their mouths and spit it back out. Okay, so then I tried the pellets. I smashed one pellet up becuase they have tiny mouths and the pellets swell and they did the same thing to it; sucked it up and spit it right back out. At this point I was noticing that the loaches were coming out even though I was sitting right next to the tank (I think having dither fish helped as the loaches only come out when I'm accross the room). The loaches would stay out, too, provided I didn't move at all. So I dropped in half an algae wafer to see if they would like it. They don't go anywhere near it. I did some research and found out that pretty much anything with meal printed in the ingredients is no good and my fishes definitely agree. And wouldn't you know it, everything I bought is no good!

I know I shouldn't have bought more fish, but I wanted my loaches to feel more comfortable and it was a lot cheaper to get the danios than more hiding places. I'm testing the water every single day and pretty much doing a 25% water change every day and it is keeping the ammonia and nitrites under control while the zebras are doing a wonderful job of keeping my loaches more comfortable. I think it'll be fine in the end, but it sures feels like a lousy start.